Rights flow to more threatened rivers facing further pollution

Seventeen months after the River Ouse in Sussex notched up a historic first — becoming the first river in England to have its rights formally recognised by a local authority — other rivers now have charters in place to protect their integrity.

The dozen or so river charters drawn up since then include those for the Loddon, Medway, Dart, Itchen and Cam, plus the River Wye. Almost 50 local groups are now said to be exploring similar approaches in areas such as Northumberland (River Tyne), Somerset and Gloucestershire (River Avon), Cornwall (Helford River and River Fal) and Northern Ireland (Lough Neagh). ‘The charter itself didn’t grant the Ouse legal personhood. Farmers and landowners have not suddenly found themselves subject to new regulations, but it has changed the way rivers are discussed — not merely as resources to be managed, but as living systems that need to be cared for,’ said Cher Potter, a director of Emergence Trust, a charity supporting new thinking on Nature, culture and society.

A river’s charter — which draws on the old rural idea of stewardship, at the same time as putting emphasis on guardianship and long-term care and bringing more landowners into the conversation — is a set of shared principles intended to guide the many organisations whose decisions affect a river’s future. ‘The challenge now is turning those principles into practice,’ said Elena Blanco, associate professor of environmental law at Bristol Law School and a member of We Are Avon, a movement of river guardians working to regenerate the Avon catchment. ‘The argument is not that there are too few rules, but that responsibility is divided between councils, regulators, water companies and environmental bodies.’

The River Wye has become the movement’s ‘poster child’, with campaigners launching its declaration of rights at May’s Hay Festival in Powys. Last year, too, Herefordshire Council and the Wye Catchment Nutrient Management Board created a ‘Voice of the River Wye’ role and appointed ecologist Dr Louise Bodnar to represent the river’s interests in board decisions. ‘Now, instead of debating what is best for farmers, developers or local authorities, the starting point is what is best for the river itself,’ added Potter.